Finding Friends
by JCB
Summary: Final chapter up! Continuing my series of stories: Lee and Kara's relationship through the eyes of an old friend
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters; I'm only borrowing them for a while.**

**For those of you who thought I'd been too harsh on poor Lee at the end of my last one, I hope this goes some way to making you forgive me! This starts seven months after the end of 'No place like home'. It has some plot (actually more than I thought it would), but will otherwise be the fanfic equivalent of meringue: sweet and fluffy!**

**Finding Friends**

**Chapter 1**

Doctor Stephen Nagala was slowly going mad with boredom. When he had first embarked on this deep space research mission it had seemed like a great way of escaping from the family feud that had been caused by his decision to leave the military and pursue a career in science. Now, three years, five months, two days, twenty-three hours and hundreds of star systems later the novelty had definitely worn off. Their expedition was now complete and they were heading home, but, having come so far, heading home was going to take a long, long time and he had very little to do but analyse his data every which way and back again.

If he had been expecting to find advanced alien civilisations on this expedition, then he had been sadly disappointed. Most of the alien life that they had encountered had hardly climbed out of the primordial soup. At least that meant that they were still alive, not gobbled up or blasted to pieces by some superior alien technology. They had been the first expedition this far beyond the red line in living memory, charged with mapping the star systems and life forms in this part of the galaxy. Now that meant that it was going to take at least six months to get home to Picon, according to Captain Mira. He said that they needed to do the journey in a series of small jumps and flight under standard power to conserve fuel and validate their star maps. Stephen wasn't going to argue with the pompous asshole. He had survived the last three and half years cooped up in a ship with the idiotic little man by largely ignoring him. Big as their research vessel was, it still wasn't big enough for Stephen to escape seeing him almost every day. The captain still had no idea that his chief scientist could fly rings around him if he wanted to, but as Stephen wanted to forget that he had ever been a viper pilot he wasn't going to raise the issue.

He stared out at the blackness visible through the viewing window and mentally tracked the stars. The vision of stars started to disappear as he felt the familiar lurch as they started their next FTL jump. The jump over, he returned his gaze to the stars to check how the formation had changed. Only this time it wasn't just stars in front of them. There was a flotilla of ships headed by what looked distinctly like a colonial battlestar. He flicked the internal comms quickly.

"Captain, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yes I am doctor. What the frak do you think it is?"

"I have no idea, but can I suggest transmitting colonial signals before those vipers reach us."

"I am very well aware of the procedure in circumstances such as this, thank you doctor."

The comms flicked off. Stephen made an obscene gesture at them, mentally picturing the Captain and started to make his way to the bridge. He wanted to find out exactly where those ships had come from. He entered the bridge just as a woman's voice was responding to their hail.

−

In the Galactica's CIC the admiral was interrupted from his conversation with his XO by captain Gaeta's voice.

"Dradis contact!"

Everyone immediately turned their attention to the monitors.

"The vessel is transmitting colonial signals, sir. Apparently it's a colonial deep space research vessel," Dee chimed in.

"What the frak are they doing out here? Can you get them on the wireless, Dee?"

"Yes, sir." The admiral took over the headphones himself.

"This is the battlestar Galactica. Identify yourself." Adama deliberately kept his own identity hidden.

"Galactica, this is captain Mira of colonial research vessel Astrella. I'd like to know what you're doing out here."

"We'll I'd like to know the same, Captain and given the fact that I have the Galactica's guns trained on you I suggest that you tell me."

"With all due respect, this is a deep space research ship. We're supposed to be here. The same can't be said for a colonial battlestar."

The admiral glanced at his XO in unspoken communication and received a confirmatory nod in return.

"I think it would be wise to discuss this in person, captain. Can I request that you dock with Galactica? I'll send a viper detail to escort you in."

"It seems that you give me little choice but to comply."

The admiral ended the transmission and turned to his XO.

"Do you think this is a Cylon trap?"

"It has all the hallmarks," responded Lee, "but it's a bit too bizarre even for them."

"I agree and I do recall reading something about a deep space exploratory mission in one of those old Caprican Life magazines that Racetrack found. Maybe this is it. However, I want full precautions. Send marines and the CAG to greet them."

Lee tensed at the idea of Kara being exposed to a potential Cylon threat, but complied with his father's orders. He knew that he would never be able to be impervious to situations that potentially put her in danger; he just had to learn not to show it.

−

On the bridge of the Astrella, Stephen had a thoughtful look on his face.

"If it is Galactica, then, if I'm not mistaken, that voice belonged to Commander Adama."

"How would you know?" responded Mira with a sneer.

"Well captain, when one's father is commander in chief of the colonial fleet one tends to pick these things up!" Stephen replied conversationally. Mira just scowled at him.

"Hmm, well I'm not going in unarmed. We'll send a squad to check first before we board."

Stephen couldn't disagree with this cautious approach. Orders dispatched, they sat back and waited for the squad to report over the open wireless channel they had set up. It wasn't long before they heard the air lock opening and crewman Riley's dismissive voice resonate around the bridge.

"There's just a couple of guys and a pregnant woman here, Captain."

"Hey, don't let the belly fool you frakwit; I'm the one pointing the big ass gun at your head. Hormone surges might make me trigger happy and they haven't affected my aim," came the strident reply. Stephen got an immediate spark of recognition at the voice and the turn of phrase.

"Starbuck?" he asked

"Yeah, who's asking?" responded Kara to the disembodied voice coming through the wireless.

"What, you don't recognise my voice? I'm hurt Kara!"

"Whiz?" she responded tentatively. "Is that you?"

"Sure is. Have you missed me?" Kara's smile broke out.

"Sure have. What the frak are you doing out here?"

"Can you have forgotten that I gave it all up to follow my dreams?"

"The way I heard it was that you'd suffered some sort of mental breakdown, but then I suppose your father had to come up with some excuse as to why his only son didn't want to follow in his foot steps."

"Yeah, well we all have our cross to bear and he's mine. So when are you going to invite me on board?"

"Let me just check with the old man and then we're all set."

Captain Mira was staring at him like he'd suddenly grown horns. He just returned the stare with a wide grin and started towards the air lock joined to the Galactica.

−

Mira went ahead with the marines as Stephen stepped onto the Galactica and saw Kara for the first time. He looked her over, shaking his head in amazement.

"Now that's a sight I never thought I'd see: Starbuck up the duff!"

"Hey, it's all legal," she replied waggling her ring finger in his face.

"I can't believe that you're married with a baby on the way."

"This is number two!"

"Wow. I always knew you were a quick worker but you must have really surpassed yourself this time."

"Thanks. Like I always said everyone…"

"I know; has a skill. Is hubby anyone I know?"

"Oh I think you might just remember him." He turned to look at her smiling face.

"No!..no! .. I don't believe it!…..Lee?" She nodded in confirmation.

"I always knew the two of you had a thing for each other, but then Zac…."

"Yeah, well you know Lee was never very good at dealing with feelings and I was just so pathetically grateful that you two great scions of military families were friendly towards poor little Kara Thrace from the wrong side of the tracks that I didn't want to upset the apple cart. It took some pretty serious shit to finally get us together."

"Pathetically grateful? I've never seen such a poor impression of pathetically grateful in all my life. If I remember rightly you were the cockiest, mouthiest girl at the academy."

"You men are so easy to fool when a woman just talks back to you!"

"Well anyway, it looks to me that when you did get together it was pretty successful." She looked up at him with such a genuine smile and such happiness shining out of her face that he caught his breath at her beauty.

"Yes it has been," she said simply.

He grinned at her in return, happy that his friends had finally come together. Suddenly a thought struck him and he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Kara.

"I'm rich!"

"Rich?"

"Oh yeah. I was so convinced that Lee was in love with you when we were at the academy that I bet him 100 cubits that the two of you would get married. He got very heated about it and said no way and bet me 10,000 cubits in return that you wouldn't. I don't remember us putting a time limit on the bet so he owes me 10,000 cubits!"

"Sorry to disappoint you but cubits aren't worth anything any more, and even if they were Lee doesn't have two to rub together."

"Ah damn. Why not?" he asked, puzzled.

"The admiral will explain everything, but in a nutshell; the Cylons came back."

As they came up to the entrance to CIC she stopped him and looked up at him seriously.

"When you see Lee he won't be quite how you remember him. A few months ago he was badly injured saving our son from a Cylon. He's still recovering."

She didn't say any more and they entered the CIC. Stephen saw the captain being introduced to Lee's father.

"Welcome, Captain Mira, I'm Admiral Adama, commander of this fleet." He shook hands and then turned to Stephen.

"Well that's a familiar face. Hello Stephen." Stephen shook his hand.

"Hello sir, nice to see you again."

"I'm Major Lee Adama, Galactica's XO." He heard Lee's voice behind him as the introductions to Captain Mira continued. He turned round to see his old friend and was glad for Kara's warning, but even that didn't really prepare him for the sight of Lee in a wheelchair. As Mira moved on he came up and grabbed Lee's hand tightly, not trusting himself to say a word.

"Lords, Whiz, how long has it been?"

"Too long. I hear you've been getting our best girl knocked up in my absence." Lee grinned.

"Yeah, it seems to be becoming a bit of a bad habit!"

Captain Mira was now being introduced to the CAG. Kara, who never used her married name in her job, grinned at the man's confusion and couldn't resist teasing him further as she stepped up for her introduction.

"My name's Adama too. I'm the commander of the air group." He moved back towards the admiral quickly, the look on his face clearly indicating that he thought he had entered a mad house. The crew in CIC were doing their level best to stifle laughs.

Kara moved over to her husband and old friend. Stephen raised his eyebrows at her and whispered so only she and Lee could hear. "Wow! CAG! What did you do? Sleep your way to the top?" Kara glared daggers at him and Lee had to choke on a laugh.

"Oh Gods, I don't know how I'm going to survive the pair of you together again!" she responded in exasperation.

The admiral was explaining to Captain Mira what had happened to the colonies. Stephen's expression turned serious as he listened in. He couldn't help interrupting when he heard about the destruction of the fleet.

"My father?" The admiral laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, son. Your father took direct command of the fleet aboard the Atlantia, but it was destroyed in the first wave of attacks." The Astrella's crew were reeling from the news that their home was gone. The admiral then went on to explain some of what had happened to them since the attacks and the fact that the Cylons now looked like humans.

"So I'm going to have to ask that you be confined to quarters here on Galactica until we are able to test all of your crew to confirm that there are no Cylons aboard your vessel."

Captain Mira started to gobble and splutter in protest, but a piercing stare from Adama silenced him.

"I cannot and will not take the risk of further Cylon infiltration on this ship, captain. Be thankful that I'm not placing you in the brig until you are cleared."

Despite the gravity of the news they had just received, Stephen smiled inwardly. The Gods-awful Mira had finally met his match!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lee offered Stephen the use of some empty quarters close to their own. Kara went off to fetch Alex so Lee got his first chance to catch up with his old friend. He was pretty convinced that Stephen couldn't be a Cylon, but he couldn't quite get over a nagging concern that the Cylons had chosen people close to him and his family as models in the past. Just because they hadn't seen anything of the Cylons since New Kobol didn't mean they could assume their enemy had given up. He would be glad when they could get the test done to clear up the uncertainty.

For his part, Stephen's thoughts were far from thinking about possible Cylons. He was thinking about the glorious irony of finding out that his home had been destroyed, but being reunited with his oldest friends. When they had first arrived at the academy, Lee Adama and Stephen Nagala had been naturally drawn to each other by the commonality of being two young men carrying the weight of parental expectations. They had soon become firm friends. Although his father was the higher ranking, Stephen's position hadn't really been as bad as Lee's at the flight school. His father was a tactician, a strategist. Whilst he was respected he didn't generate the same awed devotion a viper-god like William Adama did. After all, as they had often joked, a man wasn't a man until he wore the wings of a viper pilot, so Admiral Nagala was somewhat lacking in that department!

How this duo had become a trio he couldn't really recall. Certainly no one had expected the foul-mouthed, trouble making blonde bombshell with the huge chip on her shoulder that was Kara Thrace at that time to join forces with the Academy's two golden boys, but somehow it had happened. At first there had been a little rivalry between them for her affections; she and Stephen had even had the briefest of flings, but things soon settled down into steady friendship. Stephen was a decent viper pilot but he wasn't in Kara's class, or even Lee's for that matter, but academically he ran rings around them both (hence the call sign 'Whiz'). They had supported him in his decision to resign his commission after graduation and pursue his doctorate in the face of the opposition from his family. For that he would always be thankful.

As they moved through the Galactica's corridors Stephen decided that he needed to brave the topic of Lee's disability.

"So Kara told me that you were hurt saving your son."

"Yeah, but I'm well on the mend now. Even starting to get some feeling back in my legs."

"That's wonderful. I have to say that's a pretty neat machine you've got there Apollo: not quite a mark VII, but it looks pretty speedy." Lee grinned up at him.

"It's great isn't it? I was lucky that one of our foremost disabled pyramid teams was travelling back from their championships when the Cylons struck. They're all holed up on one of the cruise ships. This is one of their spare racing chairs. It's much easier than the old thing I had to use before. I can pretty much get about most places in Galactica where there aren't stairs. I've even started playing pyramid with these guys. Turns out I'm quite good in a wheelchair. Kara thinks it's hilarious. I was always crap at pyramid when I had the use of my legs and both arms!"

"I can't quite comprehend that the Cylons were able to destroy so much of the colonies in one swift attack and that this small fleet is all that's left of humanity. I hadn't spoken to my family in five years before I left and now they're all gone. Thank the Lords my mom wasn't around any more. I don't think I've ever been grateful for her early death before. How about yours?" Lee shook his head sadly.

"Gods, I'm sorry Lee."

"I'm one of the lucky ones: I still have my Dad with whom, just in case you didn't notice, I've ironed out my differences, and then of course there's Kara," he said with a soft smile.

Even in the short time he had been with them it was obvious to him that Lee and Kara were head over heels in love with each other. He had so much catching up to do: he wanted to know what the "serious shit" was that had finally gotten them together.

They entered the Adama's quarters and Stephen was introduced to Alex. The toddler looked up at him with a wide smile and shining blue eyes and then solemnly held out his hand to shake. That solemn look reminded Stephen so much of Lee when he had first met him that he took the proffered hand with equal seriousness and shook it up and down twice.

"Pleased to meet you," the little boy enunciated carefully.

"I'm very pleased to meet you too, Alex". The child turned to his mother and loudly whispered.

"Wos 'at right mommy?"

"Very good, sweetheart." The loving smile that she bestowed on her son told Stephen that this was a very different woman to the one he had last seen shortly after Zac's funeral. Alex turned and ran over to his parents and buried his face against his mother's leg, giggling. Once he'd plucked up the courage he clambered onto his father's lap and smiled shyly at Stephen from the safety of his father's embrace. When father and son were close together the resemblance was even more remarkable.

"Are you sure he isn't a clone, Kara?"

"Yeah, frightening isn't it? But I was definitely there when he was born so I can confirm that I did actually have something to do with him too."

Stephen got himself settled in to his new quarters while Alex was put to bed, and then he joined them again for dinner. There seemed so much to talk about that it was difficult to know where to start. He plumped for the rather unusual command structure currently in place on Galactica.

"You really did a number on my Captain. He was raging at me after the introductions that this can't be a proper colonial military ship because the CAG's pregnant, the XO's in a wheelchair and everyone seems to be called Adama!"

"Hey, we like to encourage a family atmosphere!" replied Lee, laughing.

"Oh I'm not complaining; the little shit deserved it, but I have to admit I'm intrigued as to how you got into these positions. From what I recall your father was always a bit of a stickler when it came to the military code."

"It's a case of beggars can't be choosers I'm afraid." Lee went on to explain about what had happened on New Kobol and how it had come about that he had been promoted from CAG to XO. "After that my father didn't really have much of a choice: it was me or Gaeta. Gaeta very generously told him that he wasn't ready for the job yet and that he should appoint me, even with my obvious physical shortcomings." He didn't mention the fact that the president had tried to persuade him to run for the vice presidency left open by the death of Baltar. He had kept that conversation strictly between himself and Laura Roslin. He had been deeply flattered by her faith in him, but he couldn't deny that the trust shown by his father in making him XO was incredibly important to him at that difficult time. He had explained as gently as he could to the president that she had a range of candidates to choose from, but his father's options were very limited and he needed all the support his son could give him. He'd also known about Kara's pregnancy by then and he knew that he couldn't put her through the change or the turmoil of a political life at that point. "I thought the pair of us working so closely together would be a recipe for disaster, but we work surprisingly well together."

"That's because you're more similar than either of you is prepared to admit," chimed in Kara.

"But didn't you say that this planet was where you were injured, Lee? How did you manage to escape the Cylons?" His jaw actually dropped at the story they told him. "Frak me! You don't do things by halves do you?" He shook his head in wonder at them. "But the injuries are not as bad as they first thought? You said you had feeling coming back."

"Yeah, the spinal cord was only damaged, not severed. It's taken a long time for it to heal but I'm making real progress at last."

"How did you find out that your feeling was returning?"

Lee and Kara looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Well, we were er, ….investigating Lee's er…"

"Capabilities," supplied her husband with a grin.

"Yes, his capabilities, and we discovered that he had more feeling below the waist than we thought."

Whiz laughed, shaking his head at them.

"Bet that was fun to explain to the medics."

"You have no idea! I think it made doc Cottle's year."

"Is that how this came about?" he asked, pointing at Kara's stomach.

"No, this happened just before he was injured," she replied, patting her bump.

"Isn't it a bit difficult being CAG when you're grounded? I take it that you are grounded, Kara?" he asked with a concerned tone. Knowing her she would probably still try and fit in a viper cockpit if she could.

"Yes, at least from vipers. I'm still flying raptor patrols, although doc Cottle and I are having a bit of a battle about that now that I've passed thirty weeks, but I just don't have enough pilots to give up without a real reason. Talking of which, I'm a few pilots short of a full viper squadron at the moment. How do you fancy getting back in a viper?"

"Frak, I doubt I'd remember which end was which. Besides, I'm sure the admiral won't want me in one of his fighters before he knows I'm definitely not the enemy. How long is this Cylon-detection test going to take?"

"Each sample takes eleven hours to run. Our last resident science genius, doctor Baltar, devised it. We're not even sure that it's that reliable because he turned out to be a Cylon conspirator."

"Gaius Baltar? But he was a computer guy. Biological testing was definitely not his area of expertise. Do you want me to see if I can do anything to improve it?"

"That would be a great help Whiz, but don't take this the wrong way, how can we know that you're not a Cylon?"

He didn't take offence at this question but nodded in agreement at their caution. He thought for a while about how to deal with the problem.

"Do you have any samples from known Cylons?"

"We must have some of Sharon's; she was the Cylon model that infiltrated Galactica and shot my father. Baltar said her original test was negative which is why we're a bit sceptical about his whole testing system."

"What about a definitive human sample?"

"You should use Kara's. There's no question that she's human: you see the female Cylon models can't sustain pregnancy."

"Good. Assign someone reliable and knowledgeable to watch me so there can't be any question of the accuracy and I'll see what I can do to get a proper high throughput screening system set up."

The conversation roamed over many subjects, but they soon slipped into reminiscences about old times. Lee admitted to himself that he was driving the conversation that way deliberately to test the accuracy of Stephen's memory, but he hoped it wasn't too obvious.

"Oh my Gods, do you remember when you were caught running naked round the gardens outside barracks by colonel whatshisname?" Tears of laughter were running down Kara's face at the recollection of some of their exploits.

"Colonel Blake. Never been so embarrassed in my life trying to explain that one away, especially as it was the COs daughter I was trying to escape from!"

"Oh I can beat that," responded Lee. "Try explaining to your CO, who also happens to be your father, how you've managed to get his best pilot pregnant and broken every frat reg in the book."

"Ouch! That had to hurt!"

"Oh don't you feel too sorry for him. The old man's a softy. If I remember rightly, once he'd gotten over the initial shock, he couldn't have been more pleased, and as for his grandson, well he's positively besotted with him. I bet Alex could lead him by the nose round Galactica if he wanted to!"

Their laughter was so good to hear. Notwithstanding the shocks of the day, he felt invigorated by the evening spent in such good company. Despite the fact that Lee and Kara were very obviously a couple he didn't feel embarrassed or left out by their intimacy; they had just slipped straight back into their old camaraderie. Eventually, however, he had to admit that he was about to drop with fatigue and bid them good night.

−

As Lee and Kara got ready for bed they discussed their friend.

"He can't be a Cylon. He remembers things that happened ten years ago; intimate details that only someone who was really there would know."

"It's horrible having to be this suspicious of an old friend."

He looked at her intently. He had never been surer of her feelings for him than in the last few months, but he still had moments of insecurity.

"You must be glad to see him though."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well you always liked Whiz didn't you? I mean you made friends with him before me."

"Lords, you're dumb sometimes Lee Adama."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, why do you think I got to know Whiz?"

"I presume 'cos you fancied him?"

"No dumbass, I really fancied his friend Lee, but couldn't seem to get him to talk to me. Whiz was much easier going so I thought I might get introduced to his friend through him."

"Oh." he blushed.

"Only when I got to know his friend Lee, I found out that all he was interested in was beating every record there ever was at the academy, especially any that had been set by his father, so I decided he would be more useful as a friend than a frak buddy. Still fancied the pants off him though!" She smiled affectionately at him, knowing where this conversation was coming from and hoping she could clear his mind of any worry quickly.

"But I thought you slept with Whiz?" She rolled her eyes at him.

"Ranked as the worse night of my life until my infamous Baltar incident! We only did it the once after we'd had too much to drink. When we woke up we both agreed that it wasn't the best idea we'd ever had and never did it again. It was like sleeping with my own brother! Urgh!" She shuddered dramatically.

"I thought you might think that with me. You know, the brother bit."

"Yeah I should really, but I never have Lee, not for a moment." She caressed his cheek, a serious expression settling on her face. "I'm not going anywhere, Lee. Not with Stephen or anyone else for that matter. I only want to be with you." She tried to lighten the mood a little and a saucy grin peeped out. "Besides I'm hardly likely to get the opportunity: I'm not exactly any man's dream girl of the year at the moment am I?" she looked down at her protruding stomach.

"You'll always be my dream girl Kara, especially when you're pregnant with my child."

"Ah sweet! I don't know whether to vomit over you or kiss you."

"Can I have the latter please?" She leaned down to place a soft but passionate kiss on his mouth. He caressed her belly with his good hand. She covered his hand with hers and they stayed that way in silence for a few moments, each saying a silent prayer of thanks for their current happiness. He kissed her belly reverently then leaned up and kissed her on the mouth again, this time with more intent.

"Hang on there a moment tiger," she whispered and pulled away to go and finish her preparations for the night.

"Whiz was always more of a brunette man anyway," she called over her shoulder at Lee. "I wonder if I can fix him up with Racetrack? She deserves first crack at the new talent. And the Lords only know when Stephen last had a good frak; there weren't many women on their crew and the two I saw looked like Tauran shot putters." Lee just groaned.

"I don't want to hear this, either as your husband or your XO. I don't recall matchmaking being in a CAG's job description."

"Course it is; you were just crap at it!" He smiled slyly as he grabbed her hand and drew her down on to his lap.

"Says who? I got the match I wanted."

"Definitely crap. Putting yourself before your men? Really Major, I'm ashamed of you!" She resumed her previous occupation of kissing her husband, not really demonstrating any shame at all!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Stephen surveyed the chaos of Gaius Baltar's lab. The erstwhile vice president had either left in a hurry without a chance to tidy it up, or deliberately left behind a mess so that no one could quite figure out what he'd done.

"Where do we start?" asked Gaeta who, as the person with the most knowledge of Baltar's work, had been assigned to work with Stephen and verify the validity of the tests.

"Let's start by working through his notes and then we'll start sorting through the samples."

By the end of the first day Stephen had pretty much worked out what Baltar was trying to do with the Cylon detection test. It was essentially a sound test but, in his opinion, overly elaborate. He felt that he had a good idea as to how he could strip it down, reduce the variability and simplify it significantly, which would increase the throughput and the reliability. Why Baltar had felt he needed radioactive plutonium was beyond his comprehension. Given what they now knew about Gaius Baltar's activities and allegiances he didn't really want to think about what the man had been intending to do with the nuclear device. He was more than happy to get the remains of it out of the lab and returned to Galactica's armoury.

The samples were a different matter. Baltar's approach to running the tests seemed to have been rather random. His progress with testing all the key members of the fleet had also been painfully slow. They found samples from Sharon Valerii (versions 1 and 2) and also from specialist Lammer, whom Lee and Kara had identified as a Cylon. He was still in the brig awaiting confirmation that he was in fact a Cylon before the admiral decided what to do with him. Kara's sample was no where to be found so the Gods only knew what Baltar had done with that. Stephen was also very concerned about how they had been stored, and if that would affect the results, but that couldn't be helped: as far as he was concerned that's what you got from putting biological testing in the hands of a computer scientist!

Stephen and Gaeta worked away through the rest of the week and got everything ready for re-initiating testing. In his reports to the admiral, Gaeta couldn't help but reflect on the superior approach he saw in Stephen's work compared to Baltar's.

Once they were ready to start, Kara came into the lab to give them a new sample. She heaved herself up on to the treatment couch and offered her arm to Stephen with a grin on her face.

"Do your worse, doc!" He took the sample without any fuss, but stopped her as she made to get up.

"Woo, woo, you're not going anywhere just yet. Doc Cottle told me that your blood pressure is a bit erratic and that I needed to keep you lying down for at least ten minutes after taking the sample.

"For that? That wasn't much more than a pin prick!"

"That's as may be, but I for one don't want to have to explain to Lee why you passed out in one of Galactica's corridors."

"OK, OK, you're the boss. Come to think of it I haven't had a chance to sit down all day; I've been doing evaluations of the pilot's landing techniques; 'completely crap' doesn't even begin to cover it! A rest wouldn't go amiss, especially as junior here decided it was a good time to play in the middle of the night so I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Do you know what flavour this one is?"

"Yup; another boy, which is fine by me. It gives Alex a baby brother to play with and I'm used to keeping Adama men in line: Gods know what the female of the species might be like, especially with my genes thrown in as well!"

"I bet Lee wouldn't have minded a little blonde-haired, blue eyed princess to spoil." She gave him a disgusted look.

"Like any child of ours would be allowed to behave like that! No, he wouldn't care if the baby's blue with green spots as long as we're both healthy; he's just so excited about becoming a dad again."

She sat back and watched Stephen work. She gave Gaeta a quick wink and went onto the attack.

"So Whiz, how's your love life?" He just laughed.

"It's been better."

"That's what I thought. We need to sort that out for you. Just leave it to Starbuck the doctor of lerve!"

"Oh Lords, Kara, don't even think about it. I still have nightmares about the last time you tried to fix me up."

"Yeah, well how was I supposed to know that she had sado-masochistic tendencies?"

"I would have thought 'lerve' doctors would have done a little basic research before inflicting people on their victims!"

Gaeta snickered at them, but before he got a chance to hear Kara's reply a PA system announcement called him to CIC, so Stephen and Kara were left alone. He gave her a long look. Despite her laughter, there were dark patches under her eyes and she was even paler than normal.

"Are you sure that you should still be working Kara? You look tired."

"Gee thanks, that's made me feel real good, Whiz!" She gave him a sour look, but then she gave up the pretence and her face took on a more sombre expression. "I'm OK. Helo, who's my deputy, is taking on a lot of the donkey work and anything that I physically can't do, but it's still hard. I mean how do you think you'd feel if you had to carry this lot about," she gestured toward her pregnant belly, "try to be the CAG, look after a toddler and help your disabled other half! Course I'm frakking tired." She looked at him for a long moment as if weighing something up in her mind. It was obvious that she made a decision to get a few things off her chest. Stephen was glad that he could play the role of confidante for her.

"When I was carrying Alex, Lee insisted on waiting on me hand, foot and finger. Drove me absolutely mad! I complained like hell at the time, but now….now he'd love to be able to do it again but he can't: the boot's well and truly on the other foot. You know, every morning I have to dress our eighteen month old son and I have to help Lee to do the same. My beautiful, courageous Lee who could fly rings round Cylon raiders and now I have to put his shoes and socks on for him! Don't get me wrong, I don't resent having to do these things for him one iota, it's just that it tugs at my heart every time I have to do it knowing how hard it must be for him to be so dependent."

"But the pair of you seem so happy."

"That's the ironic thing really: we are. I just wish it could be easier for him and may be one day it will be, but it's taking a long time and a lot of effort on his part. He's determinedly positive, but I see the mask slip sometimes and it just makes me want to scream out at the injustice of it all. Before this all happened we kinda knew that we loved each other, that we were happy together, but life was always such a rush. He was being CAG and I was busy trying to teach new pilots for him. If it wasn't the Cylons then it was the government. If it wasn't the government, then it was some other crisis in the fleet that took up our time. We always thought that we'd have all the time in the world once we'd escaped the Cylons to explore all our feelings for each other. Amazingly naïve really when you think that either of us could have been killed when we went out in our vipers each day, but it was like we thought that we lived charmed lives or something. And then it was almost all taken away from me, and it was then that I realised what I had and what I needed to do. I realised that I was what was holding Lee together. Me, Kara Thrace, renowned screw up who's frakked up every personal relationship she's ever had, and this wonderful, honourable, loving man was hurting so badly that I was the only thing keeping him sane. It broke down the wall that had been holding back my feelings: I just knew that he needed to see everything I felt about him that I'd kept hidden for fear of being hurt or loosing everything. And so I let him all the way in at last and he did the same with me, and now we don't care who knows it and who sees it and it feels wonderful." By the time she finished, her face had taken on a luminous glow and he felt humbled and proud by the way that his friends had risen to the challenge of Lee's injuries.They had used it to strengthen their relationship rather than destroy it. He took her hand in his and raised it to his lips.

"You're a very special woman, Kara Thrace, and Lee is lucky to have you."

"It works both ways, Stephen. He's saved me from myself so many times that I've lost count." He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Why don't you take a quick nap? I'll cover for you."

"Probably won't be any need. What Lee said was right; this is a family ship now. Everybody covers for everybody else because we know we're all we have left."

"Yes, I've sensed that. I hope that when I get these tests done I can join that family."

He started to process her sample as quietly as possible to let her rest. The next time he looked over he realised that Kara was fast asleep. Her hand was draped protectively over her belly and her mouth was half open: she was snoring delicately. He smiled and put a blanket gently over her. As Gaeta came back into the lab he put his fingers to his lips.

"Mr Gaeta, could you let them know in CIC where they can find the CAG if they really, really need her?" he whispered.

-

The results of the tests were clear: Sharon and Lammer were confirmed to be Cylons. Kara definitely wasn't and neither were any of the people who had been on board the Astrella. The crew of the Astrella were now allowed to return to their ship and join the fleet officially. Stephen was going to stay on Galactica as the new chief scientific officer to replace Gaius Baltar: he was heartily glad to be away from captain Mira. He slipped into life aboard Galactica with surprising ease. He worked closely with the admiral and Lee on analysing all the planetary data the Astrella expedition had collected, hoping to identify a suitable planet on which to again try re-colonisation. Kara and Lee introduced him to the crew via an evening playing cards in the rec room. If he noticed Kara's subtle attempts to put him together with the pretty brunette pilot he couldn't quite remember the name of, he didn't show it. He did exchange a smile with Lee at her antics and received a knowing smirk in return! Kara was more successful in persuading him to try flying a viper again. She got him in the mark VII one morning, much to the junior pilots' disgust.

"How come he gets to try out on the mark VII? We never get a go at it." Unfortunately this remark was uttered within Kara's hearing.

"Because, shit for brains, it's Apollo's plane, which he has now assigned to me as the CAG, and as I can't use it at the moment I get to choose who does. As I'd really like it to be in one piece when I can fly again I wouldn't let you anywhere near it, but unlike you Whiz has actually flown a mark VII before. I trust him with it and as it was the last viper mark that he flew, his technique's gonna come back much quicker in something he knows. Now get your sorry ass out of my sight before I re-assign you to late shift permanently."

Everything went surprisingly well with his test. Stephen remembered more than he thought he would. The feel of the plane came back quickly and he was surprised by how much he enjoyed being in a fighter again. By the end of the test the nuggets were no longer questioning whether he should be allowed to fly the mark VII. He was still concerned about flying in a combat situation, but agreed to let Kara put him in the CAP rotation when she had no other options.

If he was going to be flying again Stephen thought that he had better get some conditioning work done in the gym. He knew that Lee had physio sessions there everyday and decided to join him. When he got there it was obvious that Lee had already been at it for sometime. He was on a weight training machine, attempting to do leg strengthening exercises. Even though it was obvious that he had worked to keep himself in reasonable shape, he was dripping with sweat and red in the face with exertion. Stephen was concerned for him.

"Why are you pushing yourself like this Lee? I know you want to improve but it's gonna take a bit of time and patience old friend."

"Hey, not so much of the old! I'm doing it for Kara."

"She seems quite happy with you how you are," Stephen replied gently.

"It's not that, it's for when she has the baby. Galactica's not exactly set up with a great obstetrics service you know. When she was having Alex she had to endure the entire twenty two hour labour with virtually no pain relief. The most comfortable position she could find was standing up, leaning against me. We stood like that for hours, me just rocking her and rubbing her back as she fought through each pain. Doc Cottle said that it was like a little dance! I want to be able to do the same for her when this baby comes. I'd do anything to make it easier for her; she didn't really want to have another baby so soon after Alex."

"That surprises me. She seems really happy about it."

"Yeah, well it came as very welcome news at a bad time. During those early weeks after I'd been injured we thought that our chances of having a bigger family the old fashioned way had gone. It's still not certain that I'll be able to father more children, but that's less of a concern now with this one on the way."

"So what's the problem?"

"It's my arm. The strength is returning to my legs but with only one arm, I can't get the propulsion or balance I need to stand, let alone walk. This thing's useless." He pointed to the artificial arm he was currently using. It was little more than cosmetic.

"May be I can help with that."

"I really wish you could Whiz."

Stephen thought about all he knew of the natural physiology of the human arm and what one might be able to do mechanically to replace it. He started on a design and got so into it that he didn't realise until he'd completed it that he'd worked through the night. Rather bleary-eyed, but excited about his work, he went to find the man with the wherewithal to make it happen.

"Chief Tyrol, I've got a bit of a project that I'm working on. Do you have any of these parts?" He gave the chief a piece of paper. The chief ran his expert eye over the list.

"What are you making?"

"A new arm for Apollo. I could do with some help if you're up for extra work."

"A mechanical arm? Never done anything like that before. Come with me, doc and let's see what we've got." It was clear that the chief was up for the challenge.

Stephen and Tyrol worked away at the mechanical arm: it was a great way for Stephen to get to know someone who he realised was very important on Galactica. They got the basic structure assembled, but when it came to wiring some of the electronics, they ground to a halt. The chief looked over Stephen's shoulder as he tried to thread some wiring into a small opening.

"Oh that's way beyond our capabilities, doc. You need someone with small hands. I'll send you Cally.

Cally approached the lab with excitement bubbling inside her. She would do anything to help Apollo. She had never quite gotten over her crush for him, although she had to admit that his friend was also quite gorgeous and didn't have the added complication of being in love with (and married to) another woman.

Stephen looked up at the tentative knock on the hatch to see a sweet, elfin face surrounded by soft brown hair smiling up at him.

"Reporting as requested, sir." He held out his hand and shook one of hers: she did indeed have very small, delicate hands.

"You must be Cally. Please call me Stephen or Whiz. I have no rank here yet so there's no need for all that 'sir' business." She grinned disarmingly back at him.

They worked away together diligently. It was obvious to him that Cally was a fine technician, despite the fact that she looked to be no more than twelve. It was also obvious to him that she thought the world of the Adamas, especially Lee. She made several suggestions for improvement in the arm, tentatively at first, but with more confidence as he praised her work and accepted her recommendations. The wide smile and blush that accompanied his praise made him feel surprisingly good in return.

They kept working whenever they could get a spare moment. By the end of it Stephen had hardly slept for two nights, so determined was he to finish, and he knew that he looked liked shit. However it was all worth it when his friend came for his first fitting: the look of wonder on Lee's face when he managed to move the fingers for the first time was worth all the hard work.

"I just can't thank you enough Stephen. It's….it's amazing." He gave his friend a fierce hug and then went to do the same to the chief and an ecstatic Cally.

"You guys are the best!"

Kara, who had been watching the proceedings with a keen eye, gave Stephen a quiet hug and a kiss on the cheek. The look on her face told him everything he needed to know about how grateful she was.

"That's about another 10,000 cubits we owe you, Whiz."

"Let's call it quits shall we? If the two of you hadn't given me the courage to quit the military I'd probably be dead now. I guess my life's gotta be worth more than a few thousand cubits."

"Right now, seeing that look on his face, you're worth your weight in gold!"

**Author's note:** Glad you seem to be enjoying this one: I'm definitely enjoying writing it. I hope it hasn't got too mushy for you. I think I've now pretty much descended from meringue into marshmallow. The next (and last) chapter is shaping up to be even sappier so anyone not partial to hyperglycaemia has been warned!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Stephen was awoken by an insistent banging on his door. He hauled himself out of bed with a groan.

"This had better be good," he shouted to whoever was outside. He opened the hatch to see a distracted looking Lee holding the hand of a less than happy Alex.

"Hey Whiz could you do me a big favour and look after Alex? Kara's labour's started and I need to get her to sickbay, and my father's on duty."

"Sure. She OK?"

"Well, she's swearing a lot but she isn't threatening me yet which is always a good sign." He turned to his son. "Alex, Uncle Stephen's going to look after you for a little while." Beseeching blue eyes stared back at him.

"Wanna stay wiv you daddy!"

"Daddy has to look after mommy at the moment, son," replied Lee, as gentle but firm as he could be. "Now you be a good boy and we'll see you soon."

He ruffled his son's hair and received a nod in return but the toddler's chin was wobbling. As soon as Lee had left him alone with Stephen he started crying. Oh Lords, thought Stephen, I'm not trained for this sort of thing. He tentatively picked the little boy up just as he started to really wail.

"I want my mommy!"

"Well mommy's a bit busy right now, Alex. Won't I do?"

"No! Want mommy!"

"Hey, you're going to have a baby brother soon, isn't that exciting?"

"Don't want bruvver, want mommy!"

He felt sorry for the poor little mite who had obviously picked up on his father's concern for his wife and was petrified for his mother, and didn't know what to do other than cry for her. He needed something to distract him. Stephen dressed quickly, picked up the screaming toddler and headed for the one place that he thought would take his mind off his mother. By the time they reached the hanger deck Alex had reached the gulping stage, but was occasionally breaking out into fresh sobs. He wouldn't normally take a child on to the deck, but it was still early and the hanger deck was relatively quiet; there wasn't a change in CAP due for another hour. Despite this the chief was already hard at work as Stephen had known that he would be.

"Hey chief, I've got an emergency situation here that I need your help with."

"Well if it isn't my favourite junior rookie pilot. What's up with you kiddo?" Alex buried his face in Stephen's neck and carried on crying.

"Alex is getting a little brother soon and he isn't very happy about it."

"Starbuck's in labour?" Stephen nodded. "Well I'm glad you warned me. I'll avoid the CIC today."

"CIC?" asked Stephen bewildered.

"Yeah. When she was having this one no one warned me and I innocently went up to CIC to give a report to the admiral. The old man nearly bit my head off for no apparent reason. I only narrowly avoided a trip to the brig! He sure loves that woman like she was his own little girl," said the chief, shaking his head in wonder. "Well I think that this warrants an inspection of the mark VII don't you?"

They walked over to the back of the deck where Lee's mark VII viper was parked. Alex started to show a bit of interest and dared a peek out from Stephen's shoulder.

"Tha's daddy's plane," he whispered reverently. Lee may no longer have been able to fly, but none of Galactica's crew would even think about taking the "Apollo" identifier off his plane: it would be kept there for posterity as a mark of respect for what he had achieved whilst flying that ship.

"Yes it is. Want to see inside?" Alex scrubbed at his eyes and nodded shyly. Stephen shifted him safely onto his shoulder and he started up the steps. Half an hour later, equilibrium restored, he managed to get him out of the cockpit again with the promise of breakfast.

−

To say that Kara wasn't very happy was the understatement of the year. As she got her breath back after another contraction had subsided, she glared at major Cottle accusingly.

"I thought you said this was going to be easier the second time around."

"I said it would probably be quicker the second time. I didn't say anything about it being easier."

"Frakking great! Just what I need: fine print." She turned the glare on Lee, who was sitting quietly in his chair, holding her hand. "And I don't know what you're frakking smiling about. I swear that if you ever even think about doing this to me again, Lee Adama, I really will cut the frakking thing off!"

"Well let's see if there's anything I can do to help with this one then," he replied, smile still in place. Very carefully, he pushed himself out of his chair and slowly stood up. Once he'd gotten his stance firm he held his arms out towards an incredulous Kara.

"You….You're standing up," she stammered, stating the blindingly obvious.

"Yup. Come here." He gestured towards her. She got off the bed and staggered over to him.

"But how?"

"This new arm that Stephen made has meant that I've been able to exercise much more easily and I've pretty much mastered standing." Tears stood out on her lashes as she smiled tremulously at him. "I've been working on it in my gym sessions as a surprise for you. I wanted to be able to do this for you again, Kara." She burst into tears. "Oh sweetheart, I didn't mean to make you cry."

"It's just I'm…I'm so happy…….I'm so happy for you," she managed to just about get out through her sobs.

Cottle, who had been in on the secret, stood grinning at them.

"Well kids, shall we have a baby?"

"Yes let's," replied Kara, wiping her eyes and feeling the familiar pressure building for the next contraction. It didn't seem so bad with Lee's shirt clutched in her hands and his gentle hand rubbing her back.

−

Stephen reflected that all in all he'd managed rather well on his prolonged impromptu babysitting duty. He didn't think roping Cally in to help was a cop out, even if she was one of Alex' regular babysitters. It was more him taking advantage of a spontaneously presented opportunity to spend some more time with her. He didn't want to over-analyse why he wanted to do that, but just decided that he enjoyed her company. Now the three of them were sitting in his lab building a kind of toy rocket ship from the spare bits of stuff around the lab. He went to answer the phone when it rang, then returned to pick up Alex and swing him up in the air.

"Congratulations kiddo; you're now part of a pair!"

When Stephen walked into sickbay with Alex he knew that everything was okay by the smiles he saw all round. Kara was sitting up in bed with Lee seated next to her, his good arm draped around her shoulders and a goofy grin plastered on his face. The admiral was holding the baby and making strange cooing noises to his new grandson.

"Mommy!" Alex screamed excitedly as he ran over and launched himself onto his mother's bed. Lee and Kara pulled him up to sit between them.

"Hey there champ." He hugged his mother tightly then looked at her with a confused expression.

"You're not fat any more mommy," he said with paralysing honesty. There was a sharp intake of breath at what Starbuck's reaction might be to such a statement. Some of the men in the room tried to stifle laughs and failed.

"Well yes, that's absolutely right Alex, but I think we might need to work a bit on your chat up lines before you get much older. Do you want to meet your brother?"

"Yeah!"

Adama brought the baby over and laid him carefully on his brother's lap. Lee showed him how to make sure that he kept his head supported. Alex looked at the tiny baby in wonder, for once speechless. Stephen, who had brought his camera, recorded the moment for posterity.

"What's his name?" Stephen asked.

"Marcus Lee Adama," replied his proud father.

"Going for the Caprican god theme again? Good thing there's so many of them, the rate you two are going."

"Hey I've learnt my lesson. There aren't going to be any more unless Kara says so. I don't fancy having to sing falsetto for the rest of my life."

"Huh?"

"She threatened to castrate me."

"I plead diminished capacity," Kara laughed. She reached over and let her new son hook his tiny fist around her finger. She looked down at her two children with a benign smile. "It never seems so bad after the event. Besides, we'll need a little girl at some point to balance out the family."

"I have witnesses to that statement, darling," replied Lee with a grin.

"Yes, and they'll also remember that I said 'at some point'. Let's at least get through the diaper stage with both of these before we think about another one!"

−

There was an extraordinary party going on. The chief, his deck crew and most of the pilots had brought a whole load of their hooch to Lee's quarters to wet the baby's head and somehow things had gotten out of hand. There had been a difficult moment when the admiral had appeared, but he had diffused the situation quickly.

"I'm not an admiral tonight, I'm a grandfather!" He had grabbed one of the jars of booze, raising it to his son in salute, and then took a deep drink.

"Lords preserve us chief!" he managed with a slight cough and smarting eyes. "Are you sure this stuff won't make us go blind?"

When the president had turned up after visiting Kara they thought that they had really been in trouble, but she always liked to encourage the Galactica's crew to let their hair down when they could. Even Doc Cottle was sitting on the couch pulling blissfully on a stogie.

"Still doesn't beat a cigarette, but I'm not complaining!"

The party had spilled out into the corridor. Alex, who had been asleep in his new room, but had been woken by all the commotion, was moving from lap to lap, winning the hearts of practically every female in the room with his wide-eyed excitement.

"I'm a big boy now. I've got my own room and a real bed and everything. My bruvver's gotta sleep in my cot 'cos he's only a tiny baby, but I'm gonna look after him 'cos I'm his big bruvver."

He was now sitting on Hotdog's knee being given his first taste of alcohol. Lee had noticed too late to stop the giggling pilots, but to his immense relief Alex screwed up his face and stuck his tongue out in disgust after one sip. He was going to have enough trouble keeping it from Kara that she'd missed a great party without having to explain to her why their eldest son had a hangover!

The main protagonists were now getting to the bleary eyed stage; even the president was a little giggly. They had Stephen's star maps spread out on Lee's desk and were arguing over the merits of all the potential new home planets.

"What about that one?" said Laura Roslin, pointing rather incoherently at a small planet circled by several moons.

"Why that one?" Lee enunciated carefully.

"I don't know. I just like the look of it."

"Then that one it is Madame President," replied Adama, saluting her rather lopsidedly.

In years to come there were apocryphal stories as to how the new home of the survivors of the twelve colonies had been selected, but none of them came close to the truth. The people who knew the real story either weren't telling or just plain couldn't remember it properly!

THE END


End file.
